Warlocks being broken?

[irdeggman]

Yeah, warlocks are rather boring after a while, from my experience, I'd also recommend to play a regular caster, whether or not your DM allows warlock. You can make an effective and fun warlock with versatility, but it requires you to make heavy usage of the only class features your DM didn't seem to mind (and IMO the most powerful ones, far more than that piddly eldritch blast): the ability to take 10 on UMD and later on craft any item you have the feat for. After just a few levels, with tons of wands and scrolls, you can have a lot of combat options and utility spells. If you do go warlock, you'll want to think of a lot of useful low level spells to get in item form and max that UMD score.

A warlock is feat starved for this precise reason.

He needs the item creation feats in order to make use of one of his class abilities and he does not gain any bonus feats to accomodate that.

He benefits from the Fey/Fiendish heritage feat chains tremendously, likewise the precise shot, improved precise shot chain. as well as the quicken spell like ability feat (and other spell like ability ones too).

Too many almost essential feats and not enough feats to go around.

 

[Shin Okada]

Basically, I don't recommend multi-classing Warlock builds. There is no such thing as Practiced Invoker. Thus, almost all the other class levels reduce the precious caster level.

Maybe just one level of Scout and Able Learner feat (human or doppeleganger) could make a reasonably versatile warlock who can almost replace a party rogue.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

To me, multiclassing in D&D- especially with anything resembling a spellcaster- is rarely about being optimal.

Mechanically, it may be about adding a wrinkle, fluffwise, it may fit someone's nature.

But ultimately, its like the difference between an Olympic level sprinter, an Olympic level discus thrower, and an Olympic level decathlete. While all 3 are incredible athletes, the first two are specialists whose performances in their given fields can only be rivaled by other specialists. The latter has broader training, and can outperform almost anyone else in a wide variety of competitions...except for the aforementioned specialists.

 

[Doug Sundseth]

Warlock isn't particularly front-loaded, so dipping Warlock doesn't help much. Even-splitting with any other class I can think of (including Scout, Ranger, Rogue, Fighter, and probably Bard) doesn't synergize well. And Warlock with a dip in some other class doesn't add enough flexibility or synergize well enough to make up for what it costs you in delayed invocations.

JMO, though informed.

Oh, and one more feat that I would recommend for nearly any Warlock is Coordinated Shot (from Heroes of Battle). Not taking a cover penalty when shooting past friends is hugely useful to Warlocks.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Basically, I don't recommend multi-classing Warlock builds. There is no such thing as Practiced Invoker. Thus, almost all the other class levels reduce the precious caster level.

Maybe just one level of Scout and Able Learner feat (human or doppeleganger) could make a reasonably versatile warlock who can almost replace a party rogue.

Caster level? For what SR?

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Caster level? For what SR?

Well, yes, SR can be a pain for a warlock. Also, presumably a Practiced Invoker feat would add to the eldritch blast damage, just as it can add on average 4d6 to a regular caster's evocation spells (for the d6/CL ubiquitous direct damage spells; Practiced Spellcaster feat adding up to 4 to your CL).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Warlock isn't particularly front-loaded, so dipping Warlock doesn't help much. Even-splitting with any other class I can think of (including Scout, Ranger, Rogue, Fighter, and probably Bard) doesn't synergize well. And Warlock with a dip in some other class doesn't add enough flexibility or synergize well enough to make up for what it costs you in delayed invocations.

It depends on your goals. Clearly, most of mine are about building a character I can relate to, not an efficient machine within the context of a set of rules ([seinfeld]not that there's anything wrong with that[/seinfeld]).

But even from a mechanical viewpoint, if your proposed build is heavy on Feats, you probably want to take 2+ levels in a class that gets you the extra feats you want- typically Fighter, PsyWar or the original OA Samurai.

If you want to have an inexhaustible source for ranged sneak attacks, Rogue levels are a must.

Oh, and one more feat that I would recommend for nearly any Warlock is Coordinated Shot (from Heroes of Battle). Not taking a cover penalty when shooting past friends is hugely useful to Warlocks.

One should note that, for a feat-starved class, this is a feat that has 2 others as prereqs in the chain.

Meaning Warlock dipping into Fighter (or certain other classes listed above) is more likely to have it than almost any other build...at least at lower levels.

 

[Shin Okada]

Caster level? For what SR?

Yes. At higher level, you will meet more and more opponents with SR. Fiends, dragons, NPCs with appropriate spells and items, etc. Vitriolic Blast ignores SR. But what if the opponent is also immune or highly resistant to acid?

Also note that spell-like abilities can be dispelled. A warlock can enjoy flying 24 hr/day. But if Fell Flight is dispelled, it will not let you land gently like Fly spell does.

If you want to use dispelling yourself, your caster level counts.

And when you start to make magic items (at 12th+ level), your caster level does matter much.

 

[roguerouge]

I'll add myself to the chorus of people who find the warlock fine in actual game play. The warmage is our big hitter. When we had a druid, that jumped our power level immensely. We just lost our cleric player and that's irrevocably harmed our combat-effectiveness. But losing our warlock in combats is never decisive.

Now, where warlocks shine is when you run a one PC campaign. Never running out of spells rocks in such circumstances.

 

[Runestar]

Also note that spell-like abilities can be dispelled. A warlock can enjoy flying 24 hr/day. But if Fell Flight is dispelled, it will not let you land gently like Fly spell does.

And what warlock doesn't start each day casting fell flight 100 times? It only takes 10 minutes, and you would have to be extremely unlucky to have greater dispel punch through all them of them at one go.